The four-minute Tabata workout promises huge benefits - but it can hurt your
mind as much as your body, says Lucy Fry

There’s no denying it: the festive season is upon us, and much as we like the idea of heading into Christmas in good shape, when our diaries are as full as our stomachs it usually doesn’t happen. Then along came Tabata: the high-intensity four-minute workout that claimed to be better than a whole hour of lower-intensity training.

It features 20 seconds’ hardcore exercise followed by 10 seconds’ rest, repeated eight times. Sounds easy enough, so to find out what all the fuss is about, I went along to an official Tabata class at Pineapple Studios in London, taught by master trainer Richard Scrivener.

The pre-workout spiel makes my heart rate rise, before we’ve even begun: “Imagine that your life, and every member of your family’s life, depends on you giving 150 per cent to this workout and cranking out every single repetition,” he says.

The exercises used vary but always involve many body parts. Today’s chosen moves are burpee-tuck-jumps. We alternate these in each 20-second work phase, and take a breath or two in the 10 seconds’ rest.

The bell goes and I give it everything I’ve got, just like our gladiatorial instructor suggests. He’s right, it does require almost more mentally than physically because, as humans, we’re programmed to prioritise survival: if we know there are seven rounds left, why on earth would we give the first one every ounce of energy we possess?

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However, by the end of the third round, my heart rate has soared and I can feel the throb of lactic acid build up just before it’s time to go again. Hold nothing back.

Another 20 seconds of agony, then rest, then go, then rest, then… it is over in a flash. Yet it takes for ever. I am reminded just how subjective time really is. Four minutes of lounging on the sofa with some Christmas pudding and the Downton special, versus four minutes of this? It’s simply incomparable: Tabata, done correctly, is off-the-scale intense. I finish on the floor, in starfish position, gasping for air.

The whole thing, warm-up and short abdominal workout included, takes just shy of 20 minutes, and could easily be replicated in the living room at home, or a hotel room anywhere, with one of the many Tabata timing apps available for your computer or smartphone. The only problem is one of mental strength.

Tabata, an exercise concept bought by Universal and launched as an exercise class in September 2013, may not be brand new, but is still so often misused that many familiar with it have yet to feel the true effects. “What you see on YouTube and in gyms is people using the Tabata time frame but not the actual Tabata protocol,” says Scrivener.

“If the intensity is anywhere below 70 per cent of max threshold, which you can’t really measure yourself (you just need to know you’re giving it absolutely everything and not holding back), you won’t get the results promised. With Tabata you have to override fatigue, push yourself to your absolute limits. It’s a psychological battle.”

The benefits are great if we can hit a high enough intensity. According to a study conducted in 1996 by Japanese Professor Izumi Tabata, and based on those performing workouts four to five times per week, in a four-minute Tabata workout we’ll get the same aerobic fitness benefits – and a 28 per cent increase in anaerobic fitness – that we would in 60 minutes of our usual low to moderate-intensity training.

However, the jury’s out on whether the average Joe or Joanna can push it to their absolute max in a Tabata workout – that’s why Izumi’s study was conducted on well-trained athletes, accustomed to intense physical and mental demands.

The upshot, however, is that performing any activity – sprinting, indoor cycling or body weight exercises – within the Tabata framework, and particularly in a class environment, should push you to your limits.

If you choose to make this a Tabata Christmas, you should ensure you don’t loaf into January feeling lethargic and chubby.

Just warn your family not to worry if they find you dazed and confused in starfish position. It’s not death by mulled wine. It’s Tabata. And you’ll be back on the sofa for Downton in a minute.

To find a Tabata class or instructor near you, visit tabataofficial.com